One Foot in the Algarve

Victor, Margaret and Mrs Warboys set off for a few weeks holiday in The Algarve. Of course things don't run smoothly, events take a turn for the worse when Victor accidentally pimps Mrs Warboys, and the three seemingly end up in a Prison cell without food or water. So begins a holiday from Hell in Portugal.

It's been a few years since I've seen this, I was in need of a laugh, and this did the job, I had forgotten how utterly hilarious this feature length episode was. Ninety minutes long, filmed on location, it's a sign of how popular the show was, it went from strength to strength.

This was a real big deal, it was watched by a massive audience back on Christmas day 1993, I'm sure The BBC can now only dream of such an audience share.

The opening twenty minutes are simply hilarious, the gags are relentless, but as always there is a serious twist, firstly we see Margaret's fear at turning sixty, her anxiety over ageing. It then takes an ever darker turn as Mrs Warboys gets romantically involved with the dubious Alfonso.

So well performed, it's nice to see Doreen Mantle get more screen time as Mrs Warboys, Richard Wilson gets to do even more slapstick than usual. Annette Crosbie however, gets to play Margaret with a more serious edge, it's quite a sad time of realisation for her, that beach scene is very memorable. The trio are superb.

Too many moments to pick out, but Mrs Warboys driving that Fiat Uno along the mountain side, and Victor's mouthy telephone conversation. I love this episode so much, it saddens me that we simply don't get humour like this anymore. When I was a teen, Christmas was about Only Fools and Horses, Birds of a Feather, and of course Victor Meldrew. I'm glad I grew up with these comedy treasures.

Update, I just watched the HD version that went out on BBC4 for Christmas 2023, fabulous, BBC why not give us a blu ray release.

Hilarious, 10/10.

Filmed on 16mm film back in 1993. It was upgraded to Blu Ray style HD in 2023. Just like the upgrade of the Last of the Summer Wine episode, Getting Sam Home, this looked gorgeous.

The Meldrews got a feature length Christmas Special and they got to film abroad. One Foot in the Algarve was a holiday from hell for the Meldrews and Mrs Worboys.

Victor tries out his Portuguese and accidentally pimps out Mrs Warboys to a lusty bar keeper.

Later there is a mix up with the police. They think they have been arrested and put in a cell. Only the police took them to their villa. It is a dump but they were stuck in a room for a day and a half.

Victor gets followed around by a donkey. The next door villa has a another British family staying. A boxer called Hugo (Eamonn Walker) whose trainer thinks he is too placid and laidback for his own good.

Hugo soon loses his calm demeanor after tangling with Victor.

As for Mrs Warboys, she finds romance with a local widower Afonso whose died in mysterious circumstances. Did Afonso kill her?

Then there is the arrogant paparazzi Martin Trout (Peter Cook) who took dynamite photos of a celebrity. The photos are worth a fortune but he thinks that his film role was accidentally taken by the Meldrews. He follows them to Portugal but is plagued by more bad luck than Victor.

Simply hilarious, the longer running time does not hamper the humour or the pace. There are cameo appearances by Joan Sims and Craig Ferguson.

I thought Peter Cook in his last major role stole the show. He really was accident prone. I think the photos he took were inspired by those taken of Sarah Ferguson in the early 1990s. It finished her marriage with Prince Andrew.